


alone in a darkened room

by displayheartcode



Category: Buffy the Vampire Slayer (TV)
Genre: Canonical Character Death, Episode: s02e22 Becoming Part 2, F/M, Heavy Angst, Introspection, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-15
Updated: 2020-05-15
Packaged: 2021-03-03 03:36:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24198325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/displayheartcode/pseuds/displayheartcode
Summary: He is Angel again and she still hasn't let go of her sword.
Relationships: Angel/Buffy Summers
Comments: 4
Kudos: 17





	alone in a darkened room

**Author's Note:**

> :-D

Buffy remembers what Giles told her months back about how good always wins.

 _Tell me another lie_ , she thinks. For the first time since being chosen, the balance of a weapon in her hands feels uneven. The sword’s hilt is slick with her sweat, she can feel the slash on the side of her shoulder bleeding freely on her new sweater. _Tell me there is a happy ending. That we will all live happily ever after._

But good has to win and Angel is holding her as he breaks down in her arms in a human-sounding cry.

“Oh, God, everything’s so muddled, I… _Buffy…”_

She shushes him. Touching the side of his face, Buffy hungrily drinks in his appearance, the human gleam in his brown eyes, the tender curve of his mouth, because she knows what she has to do. She has known ever since stepping inside the crypt, the possibility of it since their first kiss in her bedroom. She can only lie to herself for so long until the monster before her is standing on the other side of the grave with her waiting. 

Over his shoulder, as he says her name like a prayer, Buffy tastes sulfur in the dank air as Acaltha's grotesque mouth opens. 

The monster has to be slain, the people rescued, the hero triumphant, but Willow is unconscious in the hospital and her mother has closed the door to the only home she has. There are no more miracles, no more lies to hold onto.

There is only this left.

 _Lie to me,_ she asks of the universe one more time. _Let this be a happy ending for us._

“I love you,” Buffy says. “Close your eyes.”

Because Angel loves her, he closes his eyes.

Because Buffy loves him, she drives the sword directly into his heart.

In a flash of light, he is gone and she is left standing with a broken heart.


End file.
